Candy Review: Mike and Ike Sour Spooky Treats

 

Mike and Ike Sour Spooky Treats

Every Halloween season, one of my personal boxes to tick on my checklist of Halloween to-dos is to sample a NEW Halloween candy.  The candy itself doesn't have to be completely new, but it does have to have a new costume.  Enter:  Mike and Ike Sour Spooky Treats.

I clocked these WAY BACK IN APRIL when I was poking around the interwebs looking for Halloween stuff, but it was a delight to find them on store shelves in September/October (in a CVS-- which tends to be my best luck in finding elusive Halloween candy).

I've always loved Mike and Ike candy.  They were a staple movie snack from my weekly theater-going days, and the 'theater box' they were sold in was an easy carry in my inside jacket pocket when they weren't available at the concessions.  

For over 10 years, I've also enjoyed their Halloween releases.  Nothing helps mark the changing of the seasons like a Mega Mix that now sports monsters and spooky stuff on the box.  However I always lamented the lack of Halloween-ey-ness on the boxes.  Sure there were Vampires & Mummies (Vampire Variety & Mummy's Mix, respectively) but never did a black & orange-laden box show up, and nary a jack o' lantern in sight.  

Until now...

Finally!  Not only do we get THREE jack o' lanterns on the front of the box, but one sports a witch hat and there's even a bubbling cauldron.  The whole tableau is set against a black background with barely-seen bats and their very-seen eyes.  And that's just the FRONT!

The back of the box has more bats fluttering about and a glowing jack o' lantern smile.  

On top of all that the box features thematic candy in --what I consider-- the second-tier Halloween colors of purple, green, and orange (1st tier: orange, black, cream or bone).  The flavors correspond with their colors in grape, orange, and watermelon.

The flavors are great.  Honestly, I was shocked when I tried my first handful because I forgot they were SOUR.  Sure, there it is right on the front of the box... larger font and all but, erm--- what a delightful surprise!  Previous Halloween boxes have been 'normal' non-sour flavors, and that's what I expected, so this is also a first.  

I don't know what witchcraft (see what I did there?) they're doing but the candy distribution is pretty even with purple/grape having 24.5 pieces, orange/orange with 21 pieces, and green/watermelon with 20.5 pieces.  Magic.  

The box flavor assortment sort of feels like a nod to the Mountain Dew Halloween Pitch Black & VooDew flavors of the past with the sour orange and sour grape (you can read more about those HERE).  Watermelon instead of lime or apple for green is a perfect choice-- the sour really punches the watermelon flavor for extra pucker.  I can see maybe a sour apple being more apropos for the fall season, but anything sour watermelon is always good in my book.

I'm super psyched for this mix this year.  Though previous Halloween mixes delivered 5 flavors, I like the 3 that were picked, I like that they were sour, and I liked the color scheme.  

If you're a 'Legendary' house-- giving out full size candy-- the look of these boxes are definitely in the spirit of the season, and will stand out in treat bags full of 'treat size' snacks.  Out of the box, the purple, orange, and green colors look great sitting in candy dishes too (if your Halloween candy needs to serve both snacking and decorative purposes).  

I picked up 3 boxes and 2 are already gone.  Provided I can find them again, I may need some more for my annual spooky movie night.  Worst case scenario:  I kept the boxes when emptied and I can fill them with another Mike and Ike mix and pretend (my imagination can easily convert that holiday Merry Mix to 'zombie green,' 'harvest moon,' and 'horror red.')